Now, plumbers in Mumbai will double up as engineering consultants

Under ease of doing business, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will certify licenced plumbers as hydraulic engineering consultants who will have power to give NOCs from hydraulics department to under-construction buildings.

The BMC has 1,004 licensed plumbers working across the city, of which 121 have been certified as Hydraulic consultants.(HT file photo)

Under ease of doing business, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will certify licenced plumbers as hydraulic engineering consultants who will have power to give NOCs from hydraulics department to under-construction buildings. At present, this work has to be done by junior engineers from the hydrualics department in each of the 24 wards. The move will reduce the unnecessary workload on the engineers and approvals will also be faster, said Ramesh Bamble, deputy municipal commissioner, (special).

To receive occupation certificates, builders have to submit no-objection certificates from various departments of the civic body, one of which is from the hydraulic department. At present, only civic officials/junior engineer can provide NOC to the building after studying the water pressure in the area, future requirement of the building among others. Under ease of doing business, the civic body will now certify hydraulic consultants. The move is expected to reduce number of trips and delay from the civic offices.

The BMC has 1,004 licensed plumbers working across the city, of which 121 have been certified as Hydraulic consultants. The civic body has uploaded the list of consultants on its website www.mcgm.gov.in under its ‘online services’ tab.

This is the latest move under ease of doing business. Earlier, the BMC had certified private architects and engineers to audit buildings over 30 years old. In an attempt to move services and approvals online, the civic body had also made it mandatory for builders/architects to submit building plans online with digital signature. The move reduced the approval time from one year to nearly 60 days.